My friend that just had a colonscopy was found to have a black colored colon caused by overuse of laxatives. In her case she has been using a colon cleanse everyday due to constipation. I was not aware of this. It is not been proven to be of harm long term but she was told to take Miralax from now on. It is called Melanosis Coli. Wonder if anyone else has heard of this. She has just recently started to have IBS like problems which is why they did the colonscopy.

Oh MAN. This happens to people when they overuse laxatives. Patients with long-standing issues with bulimia who have abused laxatives and diuretics for years experience this problem. Canyon, did your friend suffer from an eating disorder that you know of?Co-moderator - IBS Forum

No, now way! She says she has been constipated all her life and started using these colon cleanse product(forgot which one) for the last 14 years. I know she had a problem with constipation as I had mentioned to her cutting down on the Calcium citrate but she never mentioned the colon cleanse. We have not been close friends that long but I have known her for a number of years. Definetly not an eating problem. about 6 weeks ago she started with pelvic pain and she was put on Flagyl and Levaquin as they thought she had a bacterial infection(nothing in tests showed that) She has gotten worse since then so I pushed for a colonoscopy which except for the black colon was fine. She is some better now but still not 100%. I think it is IBS and anxiety as she is sure she is dying and this is unlike her to feel this way. Anyway, apparantly there is no real problem with the black colon but Dr. told her to stop. Everything I have read on it says there is not proof that anything bad will happen. She is some better but not entirely. I have suggested endo if not better in a couple weeks.